1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to collets for tube couplings and is concerned with certain further improvements to the collets described and illustrated in my European Patent Publication No. 0756125 (U.S. Ser. No. 08/687744).
2. Background Prior Art
In European Patent Publication No. 0756125 tube couplings are described which comprise a coupling body having a throughway open at one end to receive a tube, a collet located in the throughway having an annular element and at least one radially resilient finger extending axially from the element towards said open end of the throughway. The coupling body has a stop face directed along the throughway axis away from said open end and the distal end of the finger has on its inner side a projection to engage a feature on the tube and on its outer side an axially facing abutment directed towards the open end of the throughway to engage with the stop face and a further radially facing abutment to constrain the distal end of the finger against radial outward movement and thereby to prevent release of the projection on the finger from the feature on the tube and release of the tube from the coupling body. In one particular arrangement, the collet has an extension projecting from the open end of the coupling body and formed with an annular head overlying the end of the coupling body around the open end of the throughway. The head can be depressed towards the end of the coupling body to release the first abutment of the collet finger from the stop face on the coupling body to allow the tube to be extracted from the coupling body.